Every twentieth person today suffers from recurring nightmares several times a week. There are well-developed therapies that involve rewriting the end of the dream in the waking state. But now a Swiss research team has shown that it is possible to manipulate emotions in the dream so that your sleeping self remembers to change that unpleasant scene that appears every other night.
A sound reminds in sleep
– I think this is absolutely fantastic! They have linked a learning moment with a specific sound that you hear during sleep, and then the dream has a positive ending, says Christian Benedict, who is a sleep researcher at Uppsala University.
The sound reminds the dreamer that he should now change the plot of the nightmare and move away from the unpleasant images that express failure, conflict, anger and sadness.
Nightmares can be caused by having been through a trauma and having post-traumatic stress disorder, but they can also occur without any underlying illness.
Can cause sleep problems
– You can develop an insomnia problem from having nightmares. When you go to sleep, you get stressed because you know that the scary dreams will soon come. And then you don’t feel like falling asleep, says Christian Benedict.
The study conducted at the Université de Genève was relatively small with 36 subjects suffering from nightmare disorder. All had to write about the plot their nightmare while awake, a therapy called imagery rehearsal therapy. Half of the subjects also had to listen to a monotonous sound while completing the task. The same sound was played while they slept.
Had more happy dreams
Before the experiment, the group had an average of three nightmares a week. Three months after the experiment, those who had listened to a tone in their sleep had an average of zero to half a nightmare per week.
– In addition, the subjects also dreamed more joyful dreams, says Christian Benedict.
Play the video above to see how to process your nightmares.